November 13, 2013 12:57 am

A stunning stat we had in the story (and, it turns out, RDPoulsbo pointed out in a comment yesterday), is that the Seahawks are allowing just 1.4 yards per punt return. That’s easily the best in the league. St. Louis is next at 3.2.

That’s a crazy number, which Lane has a lot to do with. Unfortunately for Lane, he’s not listed on the Pro Bowl ballot.

Links:

> Golden Tate was on KJR yesterday. You can hear his interview below, which starts with Tate talking about his visits to Children’s Hospital and seeing kids with cancer.

> Mike Holmgren was on KJR Monday. A little late, but still worth a listen.

> Len Pasquarelli writes about Earl Thomas “making his mark” for the National Football Post. (An aside here, Pasquarelli writes there wasn’t a media group around Thomas postgame in Atlanta. Like any postgame, media groups bounce around and come and go. I talked to Thomas individually, as did several other reporters.)

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About

Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

Great read on Kap. Wonder what Jaworski is saying now??
Sure haven’t seen much on RW. Press will probably start writing him up once we beat New Orleans and SF and he sets the record for most wins in first two years.

LVHawk,, I hope that you’re right about the Press finally notices that RW is a Legit MVP Candidate after we beat the Saints…. He will crush that 22 win record,, I hope that’s enough for him to win the MVP. He has truly been our MVP for sure.

I hope Pete wins Coach of the Year, Earl wins DPOY and JS wins GM of the year. They all Deserve it!!

As valuable as RW is to the Hawks there is no way he wins MVP this year. He doesn’t put up the numbers which is what most voters go by, especially those who don’t watch a lot of Seahawks games. Also the identity of this team is its defense so I’d say ET or Sherman have better chances, which aren’t that high. Manning wins MVP going away if he stays healthy.

If they go 15-1 while lighting up the saints and niners he might get his name in the mix. I still don’t think he wins it. Gannon put up some numbers the year he won it. Almost 4700 yds and 26 TDs. Plus he didn’t have to compete against a manning or brees who will both probably go over 5000 yds and 40-50 TDs.

I read through some comments yesterday about Kap on some SF blogs for a little schadenfreude. They’ve also turned on Roman because they think he’s trying turn him into a game manager and play like Alex Smith…

RDPoulsbo,, I agree with you except KC is finally starting to play the tough part of their schedule. They have not played anyone good so far in their first 9 games. If they go 3-4, you think Andy Reid still wins it??

No doubt in my mind even if they’re swept by the Broncos. It’ll be chalked up to Denver just beats everyone. What will stick with the voters regardless of what happens between now and the end of the season is Reid came in and turned a real bad 2 win team into a playoff contender just by wearing red.

Rodgers, Brees and Manning are far more valuable to their teams then Wilson is to the Seahawks. Although none of the 4 teams wins a Super Bowl with the backup, the Seahawks would at the very least be a wildcard team with Jackson (possibly win the division), while none of the other teams would even be in the playoff mix with their backup.

The Seahawks Defense is playing at a Championship level (unlike the last 2 years) and Lynch is the backbone of the offense. Turbin is good, but the dropoff is pretty evident.

Reid will probably land the coach of the year award as he took over a team that went 2-14 last year and they are still undefeated and may only lose two games during the regular season. Expectations in KC were very low and they have exceeded those by a lot.

Pete has done a great job several years now, but probably won’t win it as expectations were pretty high before the season started and he has lead this team to it’s best start ever. I’m guessing Pete doesn’t care too much about winning individual awards. I think Superbowl Champion would be preferred over coach of the year. Really though, winning it all should at least land you in the conversation as you took your team to the top, over thirty one other teams. Too much season left to spend a lot of time on end of the year awards anyway. We have to win this week against the Vikings and go 10-1!!

The only award you should really want for your team is the Super Bowl MVP…because that one carries a lot of extra meaning with it…not to mention another, different, really big trophy.

Let the other awards be a salve to the others who don’t get to the end of of the line…a consolation for them. Take the SB MVP and that other, bigger, trophy that comes along with it and forget all the others.

GeorgiaHawk,, you can include the overrated Andrew Luck into that mix. Last Sunday, He ended up throwing 353 yards, 1TD and 3ints but most of the good stats came during Garbage Time. He was at 40% completion, less than 80 yards with 2 ints and a fumble (fumble six) at half time. I was say he was equally as bad and CK last Sunday. And he’s currently ranked 8th in the QBR ranking…. smh..

Yep, the perception of the national media bugs me too. Just the other day I watched Jaws telling everyone that Andrew Luck was the best of the second year QB’s. That was the day after his team got blown out by the Rams and RW has his best game of the year against the Falcons (with no Sydney Rice or Harvin). I think Luck and the Colts are going to take a big tumble now that Reggie Wayne is out. The Saints and 49ers games coming up will be a chance for Russell Wilson and the Seahawks to step up and make a big time statement.

Wilson is getting killed by the Sack reduction in QBR. Now that Wilson has some WRs that have to be respected, it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s only sacked a total of 5-8 times over the final 8 games. And this includes that sack he took by running out of bounds last week.

Why does Andrew Luck keep coming up in these comments? Are the Seahawks competing with the Colts for a playoff spot? Luck owned the Seahawks in the 2nd half of their game and every time I think of Luck, I think of the Seahawks Defense getting owned. I’d rather not keep thinking about that.

rlc,, Jaws is Garbage. Now the entire nation Knows too, thanks to CK. Don’t let it bug you, just try to educate those that’s been brainwashed by Jaws and the rest of the Media,, because we know better… p.s., those that say Luck will struggle without Wayne, were just saying last year that Wayne wasn’t any good (Luck had no weapons) and that Andrew Luck made him look good. Now they’re saying the opposite,, which makes me smile.

pabuwal,, Luck didn’t owned the Seahawks D by himself. He had help from Ron Winter’s Inept Crew multiple times. I counted 6 times while others counted at least 4 times….

GeorgiaHawk,, you can include the overrated Andrew Luck into that mix. Last Sunday, He ended up throwing 353 yards, 1TD and 3 ints but most of the good stats came during Garbage Time.

He was at 40% completion, less than 80 yards with 2 ints and a fumble (fumble six) at half time. I was say he was equally as bad as CK last Sunday. And he’s currently ranked 8th in the QBR ranking…. smh..

I think Luck, Wilson, and RGIII will always be linked. And always be part of the conversation together. RGIII is kind of out of the discussion for now but probably not forever. Just like Manning/Brady always seem to be included in the same sentence. People have tried to include CK but he doesn’t belong in same conversation. I’m pretty happy with our guy. I wouldn’t trade him for any other QB out there.

This week it’s about keeping AP from running all over us. Anyone remember last year when Adrian Pe­terson rushed for 182-yards and two-touchdowns? This game isn’t going to be cake like the Falcons game. Vikings have enough issues, but watching them attack RG3 was pretty impressive. The Vikes have very solid D with Jared Allen, Kevin Williams. Those guys are strong and will present problems for our Oline just coming back from a long layoff.

those that say Luck will struggle without Wayne, were just saying last year that Wayne wasn’t any good (Luck had no weapons) and that Andrew Luck made him look good. Now they’re saying the opposite,, which makes me smile.

You have no proof of this – so where are your “facts” that you so desparately love to have

Everyone on here knows how important Wilson is to this team. Problem is he doesn’t have the numbers or the pedegre to be even considered in any conversation about MVP this year.

The MVP for 2013 will be one of the following, and I list them in likely order of finish:

Payton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers.

Done, voting over. And it will not go over well with a couple on here, but I predict that QB from the Colts will win an MVP award before Wilson does. That being said I wouldn’t want any other QB to be running this offense.

chuck_easton,, I hope you will come back and eat crow like a man,, when your prediction gets destroyed….

I predict RW will end up more than 26 TD,, which would place him 2nd All time for TDs through 2 Seasons…. He’s already close to winning the MOST games through 2 Seasons (Record is 22),, if we go 14-2, he’ll have 25 wins total. If those things happen, RW will be a legit MVP candidate….

xcman,, I don’t need no proof. Are you telling that you’ve never heard that before?? That Luck had no weapons around him last year??

Not even going to debate with you yankinta. MVP is an award voted on by the sports writers based on their observations. Wilson doesn’t have the flashy passing numbers of the Manning, Brady, Brees, Rodgers crowd. He doesn’t have a SB trophy. He hasn’t been playing for several years. 2nd year players don’t win MVP’s.

As for my prediction of future MVP’s, it’s simple. Luck plays in a system that allows him to put up some impressive passing stats. Plus he was the #1 overall draft choice. Like it or not, he gets a 50 meter headstart in a 100 meter race to MVP.

Seattle doesn’t pass enough and does not allow Wilson the opportunity to put up those 4,000 passing yard type seasons. Doesn’t matter how many games he wins in how short a time. Until he has a SB win (or two) and can put up crazy passing numbers he won’t be considered as an MVP.

Sorry you don’t like it. But you and I don’t get a vote. Only one Seahawk has ever won the MVP. Alexander in 2005. He did it not by being on the winniest team that season, and not by getting to the SB (and losing), but by leading the NFL in rushing yards.

Wilson will be considered as a legitimate MVP candidate when he’s at the top of the stats in passing yards. Under this current offense he won’t get there any time soon.

Lord is a last name, name not a title or a statement of deity. I might just make sure it’s spelled with the lower case L. Definitely need to include the Homer part, because most definitions on this blog I am proudly one.

chuck_easton,, lol, I mostly agree with you but I disagree that MVP will go to the QB with the most passing yards.

Maybe there were times in the past where that was the case but I think most sports writers are getting smarter (I hope), and realize there are legitimate passing yards versus passing yards in Garbage Time…. please read my comment at 10:19AM…

Peyton is on pace to obliterate Brady’s most TD passes in a season record as well as his own personal TD record. Both times, these guys respectively won the MVP award in their record setting year and someone thinks Wilson has a chance to win it this year?

ANALYSIS: “This is the guy, honestly. Brees deserves to be ahead of him so far based on the numbers, but if Manning slips up against the Chiefs in these next three weeks and his performance tails off noticeably in the second half, Wilson’s in the best position of anyone to sneak in and steal the award. Of his six remaining games, four are at home, where the Seahawks couldn’t lose if they played nine against 11. He’s already 5-1 on the road following Sunday’s demolition of the Falcons in Atlanta. He’s got help from an indomitable run game and defense, and he showed Sunday that when he has time to throw he can do pretty much whatever he wants. Wilson had been a statistical disappointment over his first nine games, and people have been asking when he was going to put together a truly great game. Sunday, Wilson and the Seahawks put everything together. And if you’re a fan of another team in the NFC, right now you’re sorry you asked.”

The only 2 guys I see that have a legitimate shot at winning one of these personal awards is John Schneider for executive of the year and Thomas for DPOY. Schneider because of his numerous high profile FA signings with good value in return, plus being edge out last year by Elway gives him a good shot. Thomas is getting legitimate buzz for the award, but he’ll need to add a few more picks to keep Mathis or Quinn from getting it. In this case, all the media buzz about the defense and the Legion of Boom helps.

Let’s be real here. The guys with the votes do not watch every game, nor follow every team. They follow the national buzz like sheep as does many fans around the league. That’s how these awards get handed out. They’re not nearly as unbiased as many people think they are. The Lombardi trophy is what I care about.

I hope you’re not referring to me, Yanker. I said Luck will struggle a lot more without Wayne, but I also wrote at least 2 posts last year talking about how he did have very good targets to throw to. SMH. I was one of the the only people that was with you to a large degree with the Luck talk last year, but he has improved this year and I have no desire to rehash it everyday like a speed-freak with OCD.

Does it bother anyone else that ET doesn’t wrap up much? I know it’s ridiculous to try to pick holes in the game of a guy who is one of the best at his position – and if you look at how the Hawk’s use the FS, then definitely the best for that position – but still, seems like in his mind he’s a hard-hitting assassin, trying to outhit his brother-in-arms Kam at times. I can’t recall the exact plays, but I’ve seen a number of games where ET flies in to clean someone’s clock, gets hugely pumped up after the hit, then on the next play, flies into a TE or bigger player, maybe doesn’t line it up quite right, and doesn’t make the tackle. All done without wrapping up. I wouldn’t mind seeing him putting his head on the ball and grabbing legs more often, although the speeds and distances he’s covering, I know it’s easier said than done.

Having said all that, there’s not another player I would want back there over him by any means.

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